MARIE ANTOINETTE (1755-1793), queen of France, ninth child of Maria Theresa and the emperor Francis I., was born at Vienna, on Nov. 2, 1755. She was brought up under an austere regime and educated with a view to the French marriage arranged by Maria Theresa, the abbe Vermond being appointed as her tutor in 1769. Her marriage with the dauphin, which took place at Versailles on May 16, 177o, was intended to crown the policy of Choiseul and confirm the alliance between Austria and France. This fact, combined with her youth and the extreme cor ruption of the French court, made her position very difficult. Madame du Barry, whose influence over Louis XV. was supreme, formed the centre of a powerful anti-Choiseul cabal, which suc ceeded in less than a year after the dauphin's marriage in bringing about the fall of Choiseul and seriously threatening the Austrian alliance. Thus the young princess was surrounded by enemies both at court and in the dauphin's household, and came to rely almost entirely upon the Austrian ambassador, the comte de Mercy-Argenteau, whom Maria Theresa had instructed to act as her mentor, at the same time arranging that she herself should be kept informed of all that concerned her daughter, so that she might at once advise her and safeguard the alliance. Hence arose the secret correspondence of Mercy-Argenteau, an invaluable rec ord of all the details of Marie Antoinette's life from her mar riage in 1770 till the death of Maria Theresa in 1780.
Marie Antoinette soon won the affection and confidence of the dauphin and endeared herself to the king, but her position was precarious, and both Mercy and Maria Theresa had continually to urge her to conquer her violent dislike for Madame du Barry.
The accession of the young king and queen on the death of Louis XV. (May '0, was hailed with great popular enthu siasm. But her first steps brought Marie Antoinette into open hostility with the anti-Austrian party. She was urgent in obtain ing the dismissal of d'Aiguillon, and did all in her power to secure the recall of Choiseul, though without success. Her impatience of the cumbrous court etiquette shocked many people, and her taste for pleasure led her to seek the society of the comte d'Artois and his young and dissolute circle. But the greatest weakness in her position lay in her unsatisfactory relations with her husband. The king, though affectionate, was cold and apathetic, and it was not till seven years after her marriage that there was any possibility of her bearing him an heir.
The end of the period of mourning for the late king was the signal for a succession of gaieties, during which the queen dis played a passion for amusement and excitement which led to unfortunate results. Being childless, and with a husband whom
she could not respect, her longing for affection led her to form various intimate friendships, above all with the princesse de Lamballe and the comtesse Jules de Polignac, who soon obtained such an empire over her affections that no favour was too great for them to ask, and often to obtain. In frequenting the salons of her friends the queen not only came in contact with a number of the younger and more dissipated courtiers, but she fell under the influence of various ambitious intriguers whose interested manoeuvres she was induced to further by her affection for her favourites. Thus she was often led to interfere for frivo lous reasons in public affairs, sometimes with serious results, as in the case of the trial of the comte de Guines (1776), when her interference led to the fall of Turgot. At the same time her ex travagance in dress, jewellery and amusements (including the gar dens and theatricals at Trianon, of the cost of which exaggerated reports were spread) and her presence at horse-races and masked balls in Paris without the king, gave rise to scandal.
At this critical period her brother, the emperor Joseph II., decided to visit France. As the result of his visit he left with the queen a memorandum in which he pointed out to her in plain terms the dangers of her conduct. For a time the em peror's remonstrances had some effect, and after the birth of her daughter, Marie Therese Charlotte (afterwards duchesse d'Angouleme) in Dec. 1778, the queen lived a quieter life. The death of Maria Theresa (Nov. 29, 1780) deprived her of a wise friend, and by removing all restraint on the rashness of Joseph II. was bound to increase the dislike of the Austrian alliance and cause embarrassment to Marie Antoinette. Her position was much strengthened by the birth (Oct. 22, 1781) of a dauphin, Louis Joseph Xavier Francois, and on the death of Maurepas, which left the king without a chief minister, she might have exerted great influence in public affairs. But personal motives alone would lead her to interfere in public affairs, especially when it was a question of obtaining places or favours for her favourites and their friends. The influence of the Polignacs was now at its height, and they obtained large sums of money, a dukedom, and many nominations to places. But, in response to Mercy and Joseph II.'s urgent representations, Marie Antoinette exerted herself on behalf of Austria in the affairs of the opening of the Scheldt (1783-1784) and the exchange of Bavaria (1785), in which, though she failed to provoke active interference on the part of France, she succeeded in obtaining the payment of con siderable indemnities to Austria.